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Monday, July 9, 2012

Double Chocolate Mousse Cake

I love this time of month as it’s Secret Recipe Club time, woohoo!! This month my assigned blog was Holly’s Phemomenon which is a blog that I just adore so I was super excited to dig through the multitude of recipes she has to find the “one” that I wanted to make and feature. Finding that one recipe wasn’t easy because Holly not only cooks for her family but she also cooks and does television demonstrations and participates in numerous online cooking challenges so her blog is just chockablock with fabu recipes and tempting pictures. Just as a funny aside, last month for our Secret Recipe Club posts Holly and I both, from two different blog assignments, each decided to make versions of candied popcorn. I guess great minds think alike ;-)

In the end I chose a recipe which Holly made for one of her online cooking groups, French Fridays with Dorie and the Michael Rostang’s Double Chocolate Mousse Cake. I have been trying to avoid white…you know flour & sugar and this recipe was perfect as it didn’t contain flour and I could easily substitute the sugar and as I needed a dessert for a dinner I was making, well it was just a perfect pick.

I read that Michael Rostang is Michelin-starred chef in Paris and that this recipe is considered a classic at his restaurants, so off the top I figured it was going to be good. I was also intrigued by the recipe as it uses only six ingredients and you make only one chocolate mousse and then bake some of it and then pile the rest of the mousse on top and either chill it or bake it again so you can enjoy it either warm or cold, but in the end it’s six ingredients, one batter, two layers, two textures, “my” diet friendly…and it’s chocolate….need I say more?

Let me start by saying, I took a LOT of liberties with this recipe. First, because I didn’t have the correct sized pan for the recipe (I used a 10-inch springform pan) I doubled the original recipe so that my cake would have some depth and didn’t turn out pancake thin. Then to also mess around with what is probably chocolate perfection, I mean the originator IS a Michelin-starred chef, I used sugar-free chocolate chips instead of good high quality bittersweet chocolate and I also substituted Whey Low Gold for the sugar AND cut the amount of sweetener.

Even with all my messing about this cake was absolutely amazing and I love the two layers, so I can’t even begin to image how delicious and wonderful the original recipe would be. Either way you choose to make this, my lower-carb no-added sugar version or the original, this is a simple and winning recipe.

In a large microwave safe bowl melt the chocolate along with 4 Tablespoons of the butter. Do not over heat the mixture, once the butter is all melted and hot stir to finish melting the chocolate until it's smooth. Whisk in the espresso and then whisk in the remaining 10 Tablespoons of butter one tablespoon at a time. Gently whisk in the Whey Low Gold and one pinch of salt. Then add the egg yolks, one at a time, whisking until you have a lovely, velvety mixture.

Using an stand mixer and a clean, dry bowl, whip the egg whites and the remaining salt until they are firm but still glossy. Very gingerly whisk about 1/4 of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture. Switch to a rubber spatula and gently fold in the remainder of the egg whites.

Scrape a generous third of the mixture into the buttered springform pan and place on a baking sheet. Cover and refrigerate the remaining mousse.

Bake the mousse in the springform pan for 15 minutes, at which point it will be puffed. Transfer the baking sheet to a wire cooling rack and let the cake cool to room temperature. There will be a dip in the center of it. Place the cake, still in the springform pan, in the refrigerator for at least an hour.

Now you have a choice:

TO SERVE BAKED AND CHILLED (recommended and how I proceeded): Chill the base of the cake for at least an hour. Preheat the oven to 400 F. Scrape the remaining unused chilled mousse onto the chilled baked base and place on a baking sheet. Bake for 30 minutes or until top is puffed and dry. It will crack and a knife inserted inside a crack will come out almost dry.

Transfer the baking sheet to a wire cooling rack and cool to room temperature. Chill in the refrigerator for at least four hours or overnight. Remove the sides of the springform pan. (Run a blunt knife around the edges or warm the pan with a hairdryer.) Carefully transfer the cake to a serving plate, and dust with Whey Low Powdered. Serve with whipped cream or ice cream if desired.

TO SERVE BAKED AND WARM: Bake as for "baked and chilled" (above). After you have transferred the baking sheet with the cake on it to a cooling rack, wait five minutes and then run a blunt knife around the edges of the cake and remove the sides of the pan. The cake will sink, so just let it settle for another five minutes. Transfer to a serving platter and dust with Whey Low Powdered. Serve with whipped cream or ice cream if desired.

TO SERVE CHILLED: Let the base of the cake chill thoroughly. Scrape the remaining mousse over the base. Cover and refrigerate at least six hours or overnight. Transfer the springform pan to a serving plate and remove the ring. (Run a knife around the edges or warm the pan with a hairdryer.) Dust with Whey Low Powdered. Serve with whipped cream or ice cream.

So you know that I LOVE it when you post low carb recipes! I'm definitely making this. Well, Greg will probably make it. He has taken over both baking bread and making treats lately! Yay! I don't have the whey gold, but I think we can use splenda with some blackstrap molasses as a substitute. Can't wait to try it... :)

Thank you Veronica. I do like all the Whey Low products an have been using them for a couple of years now. I find that they seem a bit sweeter then sugar so I always cut the amount I use initially and taste and add more if necessary as I go along.

I love how you took a sinfully rich dark chocolate mousse cake and made it sugar-free and healthy without losing the decadence. You are skilled, Lisa..I don't think I could ever ,ake healthy substitutes and come up with a beauty like that! Brava on yet another 'Lisa revised' winner :)

I'm so sorry it took me this long to get over here and say thank you for the lovely post and the comments on my blog! We have had a crazy week at our house, followed by a power outage! Yikes!

Anyway, I was thrilled that you loved this recipe and I am super impressed with your version and results! I have a diabetic father and can't wait to try this version for him! You did a beautiful job! Thanks again!